Summer Reading Round-Up: Spaces

"This isn't a tale of derring-do, nor merely is it some
kind of 'cynical account'; it isn't meant to be at least. It's a
chunk of two lives running parallel for a while, with common aspirations
and similar dreams."
~Ernesto "Che" Guevara, The Motorcycle Diaries
One genre of literature that I take great pleasure in reading (or re-reading) is non-fiction, and of the many books I read this Summer four of the titles which fit into that category are among the books I most recommend when people are looking for a quick satisfying read. One of the obvious joys of reading is one's ability to live vicariously through the experiences of the author and to get insight into the "real" worlds of others. The "worlds" featured in these three books though is not so alien as to make the tales told unrelatable:

Farewell, My Subaru: An Epic Adventure in Local Living by Doug Fine
The Solace of Open Spaces by Gretel Ehrlich
Into the Wild by John Krakauer
The Motorcycle Diaries: A Latin American Journey by Ernesto Che Guevara

Of those four books, one (Into the Wild) I have read and re-read more than once, another I have read off-and-on over more than a year (Motorcycle Diaries), another I read in not more than three hours (Solace), and the last, I have recommended a number of times and look forward to coming back to (Farewell).

The obvious binding trait that runs though all four share, whether wholly biographical (as three are), is the author's loving exploration of their individual connections to the landscapes they inhabit (the American West, Latin America, Wyoming and New Mexico) during the telling of each tale. I read recently in another book of an author who as a youth felt he needed to travel to experience the world and grow spiritually, only realizing when he was older that he could facilitate any growth, or move in a direction, just as far, by staying home--there was more than one path to a level of personal understanding. In either case, whether the space we explore personally or though our reading carries a benefit and offers a unique perspective on the spaces we inhabit.

Breathe in, breathe out… YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!